Among those stranded at the airport were the Central Coast Mariners football team, who played the Wellington Phoenix on Saturday.

Wellington residents Alison Murray and husband Shane Wilson left Auckland on a flight home at 1.30pm, but just before their plane was due to land the pilot said the fog had rolled in earlier than expected. The plane spent almost an hour circling the region before returning to Auckland.

The pair were offered accommodation vouchers and were hoping to get on a flight today.

"I hope we get back, I have to buy food and cook Christmas dinner," Ms Murray said.

Rebecca Reidy, 28, and James Price, 25, travelled to Wellington from Palmerston North to catch a flight to Nelson, where they were to spend Christmas with family.

Ms Reidy said they were told by Air New Zealand staff at the check-in that they would not be able to fly until Christmas Day because there were so many stranded passengers.

Mr Price said they had managed to get on the evening ferry to Picton.

Melbourne resident Nathan Sadeghi said he arrived at Wellington Airport more than three hours before his 3.40pm flight so he could relax.

On top of the fog, Qantas had also been forced to check people in manually because of computer issues and had almost finished five hours later when the flight was cancelled, he said.

Alexandra George, who was trying to fly to Melbourne to spend Christmas with a friend, said she had spent a frustrating two hours waiting in line to check in. "We have barely moved at all. I have a lot of connecting travel in Melbourne that I'm going to miss. It's just chaos."

The remnants of Cyclone Evan were responsible for the eerie fog that enveloped parts of the Wairarapa and Wellington coasts.

Lyall Bay beachgoers watched the coastal mist gradually fill up the horizon, then engulf the beach and airport.

Josie Connor, of Island Bay, said it was beautiful. "This magical, mystical fog appeared. It was pretty eerie but it was cool weather," she said.